MYSORE. 103 In Chitaldrúg District, where black soil is commonly met with in the northern táluks, a good deal of cotton is grown. A Government farm was established to promote the cultivation, but the results were unsatisfactory, and the enterprise was consequently stopped. Tobacco of a fine quality is grown in Hassan District, but has not received special attention. Cardamoms are in some places propagated by cuttings of the root, and elsewhere by felling trees of the primeral forests on the Western Ghats, when the plant springs up spontaneously. This cultivation is now attracting the attention of European planters ; but though a valuable commodity, the demand for cardamoms is limited. In the Lal Bagh or Government Garden at Bangalore, attempts have been made with some success to grow vanilla, cocoa, rhea, ipecacuanha, and various other exotic plants, while the culture of apples, peaches, strawberries, and other fruits has been greatly improved. The vanilla plant, without any particular attention or care further than fertilizins the blossoms, has been found to yield freely; but the difficulties in curing the beans have not been overcome. Land Tenures.--The land tenures in Mysore are so far peculiar, that whereas in the plain districts the niyatwari system prevails, in the hill tracts the land is held in wargrs or farms, and not in separate fields. In the level country, the soil is classified as irrigated and unirrigated, the former being called 'wet,' and the latter 'dry’land, each producing different kinds of crops. Garden land is classed separately. The possession of this last, or of irrigated land, always carried with it a proprietary right; but it would appear that 'dry' land formerly belonged to the State, which could at any time resume it for any public object without compensation. The ráyats received pattas, which were yearly renewable, being rather running accounts than real leases; and as the rates were often arbitrarily fixed at the pleasure of the shánabhog or village accountant, great discrepancies were found to exist, and gross partiality was common. To remedy this capricious and complicated mode of assessment, it was determined in 1863 to introduce the system of Survey and Settlement pursued in the Bombay Presidency, according to which the survey, classification, and assessment are disposed of in their several branches under the supervision of one responsible head. The process is not expeditious, owing to the great care and discrimination required to ensure a trustworthy classification and an equitable assessment; but as the leases hold good for thirty years, and give a complete proprietary right, a substantial boon is conferred on the cultivators. The limits of the survey numbers, which, generally speaking, comprise as many fields or as much land as can be ploughed by a pair of bullocks, are shown by mounds of earth called bándhs, at the corners of each 'number' and along the sides.
